


Sketch Me Like One Of Your Vermeer Girls

by baridalive



Series: 12 Days of Donghyuck [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Art, Christmas, Finding Love, Love, M/M, Painting, art class, classmates - Freeform, sketch - freeform, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 07:39:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17018508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baridalive/pseuds/baridalive
Summary: In which a person is sketched, and colors become easier than feelings__Days 3 and 4 of Donghyuck's quest to find love before Christmas





	1. Day 3

**Author's Note:**

> As much as this story can be a standalone, there are some parts that will make more sense if you've read the first installment in the series before this!

**Tuesday, December 16th**

_6 Days Until Departure_

_8 Days Until the Christmas Eve Party_

**9 Days Until Christmas**

* * *

 

 **Donghyuck hated his early morning** art class for three reasons. One, the class was on the exact opposite side of campus from his apartment complex, and was the farthest away out of all his classes. Two, he couldn’t paint for the life of him and Professor Nakamoto never let him sketch instead. Three, when Donghyuck forgot to set his alarm, he could only run so fast with his giant bag of supplies.

 

Honestly, come on. He was an artist and a dancer, not an olympic track runner.

 

It was a blessing that Donghyuck was a morning person, or he’d never make it to that damn class, let alone make it _through_ it. His only saving grace was the petite brunette who sat at the easel next to his.

 

Huang Renjun had been sitting next to Donghyuck in all of their art classes since they were freshmen in Applied Art Techniques 101, but the boy remained largely a mystery. Donghyuck knew that he was Chinese because he always signed his artwork in Mandarin, and that he was almost never in a good mood. There always seemed to be constant stream of grumbling coming from him, but mostly in the form of sarcastic or biting remarks about whatever Professor Nakamoto was explaining.

 

In Donghyuck’s mind, Renjun was some sort of extremely talented yet unhappy art baby. He was easily the most skilled in the class—debatably in the whole university—but he was just so adorable with his small form and elfish features that Donghyuck struggled not to coo every time Renjun got upset about something.

 

No matter how much Renjun complained about not getting a proportion quite right or using the wrong brush by accident, Donghyuck was pretty sure both of them knew just how talented he was, and that all of his art was easily ten times better than any of Donghyuck’s.

 

It was nice to have a neighbor who didn’t care that Donghyuck constantly rushed into the class last minute, though. Out of breath and pink from the brisk wind that had picked up that morning, Donghyuck burst into the art room just as the clock hit eight. He dropped his things down and tried to calm his breathing, receiving no more than an amused smirk from Renjun.

 

“Yeah, yeah, shut up. I forgot to set my alarm.” Donghyuck tried to wave the look off, but his breathing was so unsteady still that it was a miracle Renjun could decipher what he was trying to say.

 

“And I’m just waiting for the day you’ll come up with a different excuse.” Renjun clicked his tongue, but turned his attention to Professor Nakamoto who was beginning explaining the proper usage of a brush Donghyuck was sure Renjun had been using for the past three years.

 

On most days, the two tended to quietly bond over the fact that the combined brain cell count of the rest of the class probably hit somewhere in the low thirties. As much as Donghyuck’s skill level wasn’t anywhere _near_ Renjun’s, he at least was a competent painter and knew what the difference between oil pastels and watercolors were, unlike the rest of the class.

 

“Ten thousand won says that the curly haired kid in the front spills something on Nakamoto today,” Renjun leaned over to Donghyuck, pretending to inspect his paints as he whispered the words out of the side of his mouth as to not attract unwanted attention to them, even though they sat in the very back of the room.

 

Donghyuck grinned tiredly at him in response. “You’re on.” It was customary of the two to make a bet on who would screw something up that day. They never took it very seriously and never ended up paying what they wagered, but it was something funny to pass the time with. “It’s probably going to be the cup of water there.”

 

Donghyuck is usually a pretty sunny and upbeat person, but when the cup of dirty water was knocked off the edge of the curly haired boy’s easel and onto Professor Nakamoto’s smock and Donghyuck didn’t even crack a smile, Renjun must have been tipped off that something was wrong. He didn’t mention anything until Donghyuck didn’t say anything in response to Renjun’s increasingly self-deprecating comments.

 

“Hey, Donghyuck!” Renjun whispered flicking his shoulder. “What’s got you so down?”

 

Donghyuck pulled a face. “What tipped you off?”

 

Renjun shrugged, painting another stroke onto his canvas. “No one has tried to stop me from drinking my acrylics yet, and I think that’s a problem.”

 

Donghyuck snorted so hard Professor Nakamoto looked up from his desk at the front of the room, but he covered it up with a half-convincing cough. It was terrible, but it was enough to not raise suspicion that the two were breaking the “sacred silence from which can flow the most beautiful creative masterpieces so will you demons just _shut up_ ”, to put it in the words of the professor.

 

“I dunno,” Donghyuck frowned, knowing perfectly well what was bothering him.

 

“Is it the weather? The wind and the clouds kind of suck.” Renjun pointed out, but Donghyuck just hummed noncommittally in response. Renjun rolled his eyes, set down his brush, and whacked Donghyuck with a surprising amount of force.

 

“ _Hey_!” Donghyuck hissed, recoiling so far he almost fell off of his stool.

 

“That’s bullshit. Donghyuck what is really going on?” Renjun asked quietly, but his tone left no room for argument.

 

That’s all it took for Donghyuck to let out every detail about his mother’s phone call and the previous night’s events with Jaemin to come spilling from his lips under his breath so they could be masked by brush strokes on canvas and swishes of bristles in water from the other people in the room.

 

Renjun had gone back to painting the second he knew Donghyuck was going to answer him, but he knew that he was still listening because his brush strokes were kept pace with his words, ebbing and flowing as the speed fluctuated. When Donghyuck finished, Renjun set his brush down again to look straight at him.

 

“And you’re letting something as mundane as this affect you so drastically… why again?”

 

Donghyuck was taken aback. He didn’t know what he was expecting to come from Renjun, but it certainly wasn’t that. “I- I don’t know.”

 

“You’re too good to let this get you down. You work too hard and you’re too beautiful.” Renjun turned back to his canvas. “It doesn’t suit you.” It took Donghyuck a moment to process he said, but a grin slowly spread on his face when the words sunk in.

 

“You think I’m beautiful?”

 

Renjun spluttered. “ _That’s_ your takeaway? That’s not the point here!”

 

“I’m pretty sure it is, though.”

 

“Whatever keeps you smiling, I guess.” Renjun huffed. Donghyuck could see the little three-year-old in him stomping his foot.

 

“You’re adorable.” Donghyuck smiled, picking his own brush back up.

 

“ _What_?!” Renjun yelped, but the curly haired boy in the front of the room tipped off his stool at the same time so the word wasn’t heard over the crash. “I am _not_!” He lowered his voice.

 

“Yes, you are. You’re the absolute cutest.” Donghyuck laughed over how easy it was to fluster him.

 

“No…!” Renjun whined under his breath when Donghyuck reached over to pinch his cheek, leaving a little stripe of red paint across the skin.

 

“Yes…!” He made kissy faces at the younger until someone cleared their throat behind him.

 

“Ahem!” Donghyuck whipped around to see Professor Nakamoto looking between the two with a very unimpressed expression. He raised an eyebrow at the two students. “Keep it together, you two. Just because you’re my favorites doesn’t mean I won’t hesitate to put you both on cleanup duty.”

 

“Sir, yes, sir!” Donghyuck mock saluted, earning an eye roll from both Renjun and the Professor in response before the latter had to rush off to keep a student from using linseed oil as the binder for acrylic paint. Most of the students in the room had given up on being quiet after the boy fell off of his stool, meaning that they could chat a little more easily.

 

“We have rehearsal again Thursday, don’t we?” Renjun asked.

 

“For choir? Yeah. We’re supposed to be getting new music but I don’t know if Taeil is going to remember to hand it out or not.”

 

“You’re probably right. Don’t remind him and see how long we can go without getting any new pieces.”

 

“I mean, perks of being in the university’s top audition-only choir is that everyone there can all be trusted to learn new songs at a prodigious rate.” Donghyuck pointed out, making a face at the incorrect stroke he had just made with his brush.

 

“Well you’re the one that has to suffer through soprano one parts. I’m perfectly happy being soprano two because we don’t have to get our vocal cords shredded. All I ever hear from you guys are high notes and complaints about said high notes.”

 

“Okay well you try to above the staff for an entire song and then talk to me.”

 

Renjun made a noise of distaste as they began to debate the schematics of whether actually hitting a high note or trying to harmonize with one was harder until they fell back into comfortable silence again, only interacting when Renjun reached over to correct Donghyuck’s form or keep him from making another mistake.

 

“This is why I like sketching so much better.” Donghyuck groaned as Renjun corrected the direction of his brush stroke for the sixth time in five minutes.

 

“Really?” Renjun asked, adjusting Donghyuck’s grip on the brush so he could get the movement right.

 

“Yeah,” Donghyuck nibbled on his lower lip in concentration. “I like both the process and the final product for sketching more than painting.”

 

Renjun raised an eyebrow, letting go of the brush. “So you don’t like my paintings then?”

 

Donghyuck vigorously shook his head. “No, no, of course not! It’s just a personal preference that is in reference to my own work, I promise!”

 

Renjun barked out a laugh. “I know. Just messing with you.”

 

“Not _funny_ , Injun.” Donghyuck leaned back from his canvas. “You know, I’ve never actually seen you sketch at all.”

 

The clock struck nine-thirty, signaling the end of the class. “I do sometimes. It’s mostly when I don’t have my paints with me, though.” Renjun commented, packing up his things.

 

Donghyuck began packing up his own things. “You’ll have to show me some time, then.”

 

“Okay, but it involves coming over to your place, you have to promise me that your roommate won’t be throwing a rager during that time.” Donghyuck almost choked when Renjun spoke.

 

“You were _there_?”  


“Most of the junior class was, plus some more from neighboring universities.”

 

Donghyuck rubbed a hand over his face. “I was mad at Jaemin for the next week and a half. We were actually planning on finding a new place for next semester, but we’re scared our landlord will charge us if he finds the permanent stains on the walls in the living room from that night.”

 

Renjun cackled. “I’m sure all of your neighbors hate you too.” Donghyuck shook his head.

 

“Nah, it was probably our neighbors that brought the alcohol and enabled the stupid behavior of everyone else.” He finished putting away his brushes, resolving that he’d clean them when he got back to the apartment.

 

“You go on, don’t wait for me.” Renjun waved Donghyuck on when he sat back down on his stool after packing up all of his supplies. “I’ll see you tomorrow at class.”

 

“See you then, Injun!” Donghyuck waved on his way out the door of the art room, glancing back to see that Renjun had already tuned the world out and had gone back to painting. Smiling to himself, he headed back to the apartment he knew he’d have all to himself until the late afternoon when Jaemin came back from a recording session.

 

Donghyuck sat himself down on the floor of the living room and spread out all of his notes for his music theory exam on Friday. Hours passed as he analyzed musical structures and studied chord progressions, jotting down notes here and there as he went, but he was interrupted from his work with a sharp knock on the door.

 

He frowned, glancing at his phone. Jaemin had texted him earlier that his recording session wasn’t going to end anywhere near on time, so he had no clue who would be at the door. Donghyuck carefully extracted himself from the piles of paper around him and made his way to the door.

 

Donghyuck swung the door open, but no one was there. He peeked into the hallway, and swore that he caught a glimpse of a petite brunette rushing down the far staircase at the end of the hall, a little swatch of red paint visible on their cheek. Donghyuck frowned, confused, and moved to close the door again before something caught his eye. There was a paper taped haphazardly to the outside of the door, clearly torn messily from a sketchpad, given of the uneven state of the top side. Donghyuck took the paper off of the door and gingerly removed the tape before turning it over.

 

It was a charcoal drawing of a figure sitting in front of an easel, looking out a window. It didn’t take any genius to figure out that it was a drawing of Donghyuck himself, but he couldn’t help but think the artist gave his looks a little too much credit. It wasn’t as if Donghyuck thought _lowly_ of his looks or anything of the sort, but the way the artist shaded below the defined angles of his jaw, white charcoal being put to use highlighting his cheeks and eyes, making the portrayal of Donghyuck seem a lot more ethereal than he felt it should have.

 

Donghyuck scanned the drawing for a signature to confirm his suspicion that a certain Huang Renjun had sketched this, yet all he found in the lower right hand corner was a couple of smudged and nearly illegible characters that definitely weren’t in Korean, but that was enough of a confirmation for Donghyuck.

 

And if Donghyuck clutched the drawing to his chest for a moment, a specific small brunette is his Advanced Art Applications class swimming through his mind, before pinning the paper up on his corkboard next to his polaroids and other sketches, no one would have to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 will be posted tomorrow!!!


	2. Day 4

**Wednesday, December 17th**

_5 Days Until Departure_

_7 Days Until the Christmas Eve Party_

**8 Days Until Christmas**

* * *

 

 **Donghyuck allowed himself to sleep** into the late afternoon on Wednesday after being notified that his noon class got cancelled; he sorely needed the extra hours. He helped Jaemin make dinner that evening—mostly assisting by _not_ eating all of the ingredients before Jaemin could actually get to cooking them like he usually did, he got a call from an old friend, one who lived somewhere in North America now, and he suddenly found himself not dreading his late night art class as much as he thought he was going to.

 

That had absolutely nothing to do with a certain small brunette who he hadn’t managed to get out of his head since the previous afternoon. Nope. Absolutely not.

 

Donghyuck actually arrived to class five minutes before six, meaning he was about four minutes and fifty-eight seconds earlier than usual. Just as he placed his bag of supplies at the foot of his stool, he looked up to make eye contact with Renjun, who had just walked through the door. A small smile was exchanged, neither quite knowing how to proceed after the whole affair with the drawing the preceding evening.

 

“So,” Renjun cleared his throat. “You going to finish that painting by the deadline?” He nodded at the canvas that was standing in front of Donghyuck, three-quarters completed.

 

Donghyuck shrugged, grinning. “Maybe if you keep helping me.”

 

“At least you’re in a better mood today, although that may very well mean my own demise.”

 

“Injun! I’m not _that_ bad!” Donghyuck whined, poking the older’s cheek.

 

“Yeah, yeah, shush. Nakamoto might actually be telling us something useful or new.” Renjun said in monotone, making eye contact with Donghyuck before the two of them burst into laughter at the absurdity that they might learn something from this class.

 

“Mr. Lee! Mr. Huang!” Professor Nakamoto boomed, quieting their laughter immediately. “If you two won’t pay attention to me, I’m certain that you’d love to pay attention to cleaning the art room after class.”

 

The two nodded at the professor before ducking behind their canvases to continue snickering. They looked at each other, and knew that if they had to do the work, at least they got to do it together. Donghyuck quieted himself finally and at least _tried_ to listen to the instructions that Professor Nakamoto was giving whereas Renjun had completely tuned him out and was busy working on his painting already.

 

When Professor Nakamoto has finished droning on about the difference between nylon and synthetic paint brushes and why each are used for specific techniques—all things he had either learned as a freshman from his professor or from Renjun—Donghyuck continued on the still life painting that was due after winter break.

 

He could get the shape of the objects and where their shadows were cast, but Donghyuck couldn’t get the shading right for the life of him, but that’s where Renjun’s expertise came in handy.

 

“Donghyuck can you— _what are you doing_ ?!” Renjun screeched, yanking the brush Donghyuck had been holding out of his hands. “No, no, you never use a brush like _this_ if you’re trying to make lines like _that_!” Renjun scavenged through his own bag of brushes until he produced one that looked nearly identical to the one he had confiscated.

 

“What’s the difference?” Donghyuck leaned forward, squinting to try and identify the discrepancy between the two. Renjun huffed, looking so offended by the whole situation it was irritatingly endearing.

 

“This is a repeat of the Great Watercolor Fiasco of freshman year, isn’t it?” Renjun laid an accusatory finger on Donghyuck’s chest.

 

Donghyuck made a noise, crossing his arms. “I’ve come a long way since trying to use a sable brush with watercolor on canvas.” He knocked Renjun’s hand away, trying to take another look at the brushes. “What’s the difference?”

 

Renjun sighed and prattled off about six different reasons they were different and why the one Donghyuck had been about to use was wrong on at least four levels, and Donghyuck did his best to understand but he was reasonably sure that most of the information went in one ear and right out the other.

 

“Got it?” Renjun asked, snapping his attention back the the older again.

 

“I mean, not really, but thanks.” Donghyuck leaned forward, plucking the brush that he’d almost used earlier out of Renjun’s hand and tucked it behind his ear—a poorly disguised ploy to run his fingers along the delicate skin on Renjun’s cheek and gently comb his hand through Renjun’s soft locks. “Hold onto it for me, yeah? For safekeeping, of course.”

 

Renjun’s cheeks turned as rosy as the paint on the bristles as he turned back to his own painting, muttering about the incompetence of kids these days. Donghyuck snatches the proper brush from his free hand and used it to paint the beginning of the shadows of the sunflowers in his painting. He hated to admit it, but the new brush made it look a lot better than it probably would have.

 

Donghyuck didn’t take another break in painting until he got a cramp in his fingers from having to keep a steady hand for so long. He groaned lightly, leaning back to flex his fingers, knowing that he had to last another ten minutes before he wouldn’t have to paint again for almost three weeks.

 

“At least I have dance tomorrow,” He murmured to himself in attempt to keep his spirits up through the end of class.

 

“Didn’t you make it to nationals?” Renjun asked, not taking his eyes off of his own canvas.

 

“Yeah, me and two others. Both seniors, but the sophomore on our team was two points away from qualifying.” Donghyuck told him, massaging his hand.

 

“Is the sophomore Park Jisung by any chance?”

 

Donghyuck almost laughed. “In fact it is. Do you know him?”

 

“Personally? No.” Renjun shook his head. “But Chenle, one of the other second sopranos in choir, is close friends with him apparently. They walk to and from rehearsal together sometimes. I’ve heard he’s a little bit of a celebrity.”

 

“He really is, isn’t he?” Donghyuck murmured to himself, looking back at his canvas until Nakamoto dismissing the class snapped him out of his thoughts mere moments later.

 

Renjun sighed, not bothering to rush with any cleanup because of their punishment. Donghyuck sat quietly with him until their classmates had slowly trickled out of the room. Professor Nakamoto had yelled something about not bothering to lock up over his shoulder as he rushed out the door, leaving the two alone.

 

“I sometimes I actually had it within myself to shut up,” Donghyuck thought aloud, making Renjun snort.

 

“Yeah, me too.” He said, hopping up off of his stool and out of range before Donghyuck could hit him for the comment. “I’ll start cleaning the extra brushes and tools if you sweep the floor.”

 

“Sounds good,” Donghyuck was already making his way to the storage closet in the back of the room where the brooms were held. “As long as you don’t mind me putting on some music.”

 

Renjun simply spread his arms in the universal gesture for “be my guest”, and turned his attention back to the sink full of tools he had to clean. Donghyuck pulled a broom out of the closet and went back to his backpack, which was still on the floor by his easel, and pulled out his portable speaker that he sometimes had to use for dance practice when the room he was in either didn’t have a functioning sound system, or just didn’t possess one at all.

 

Donghyuck was sure that Renjun had been expecting some American pop music to start playing, judging by the little jolt in his shoulders when EXO’s Growl started playing.

 

“You’re kidding!” Renjun turned around, a smile on his face. “This is the song you chose?”

 

Donghyuck just laughed and got to work. “Just wait until you see what else is on this playlist.” Renjun’s smile became a little more confused after the comment, but never entirely left his face. Donghyuck even caught sight of Renjun swaying his hips to the rhythm of the music at one point during the second chorus.

 

“Enjoying yourself over there, Huang?” Donghyuck called across the room, seeing the movements of the older suddenly still.

 

“In your dreams, Lee.” Renjun replied, but the smile on his face took away any sincerity of the words. “You’ll have to up your game.”

 

“Is that a challenge I hear?” He stopped sweeping for long enough to level a playful glare at Renjun, who had turned around with bubbles still resting on his fingers from the soapy water his hands had been submerged in a moment ago.

 

“Take it as you will.” Renjun shrugged, placing a brush on the towel beside the sink to begin drying, but never taking his eyes off of the other. Donghyuck grinned, rushing over to his phone to play a different song.

 

“Try this on for size.” He said, selecting Red Velvet’s Red Flavor.

 

Renjun’s jaw dropped. “That’s cheating!” Donghyuck shook his head, giggling as he continued to clean the floors, watching Renjun struggle not to move to the music. “This is sacrilege,” He whined, pouting over his shoulder to Donghyuck again.

 

“Is this you giving up?” He asked Renjun, sashaying across the room to poke him on the shoulder.

 

“Of course not.” Renjun steeled himself as Donghyuck pulled out his phone to select a new song, the expression on his face was of pure horror as Donghyuck’s grin grew.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

There was a pause.

 

“Yes…”

 

Donghyuck smiled so wide he was afraid his face would split in two. “You asked for it.” With another tap of his finger, Taemin’s Move began to play from the back of the classroom where Donghyuck’s speaker resided, but the distance did nothing to dull the surprise in Renjun’s eyes.

 

Renjun tried to busy himself back with cleaning the brushes, and Donghyuck decided to indulge him for a moment, returning to the spot where he had left off sweeping. But as soon as the chorus hit, Donghyuck dropped the broom with a clatter, making Renjun’s gaze flick back to him just in time to see Donghyuck jump into the choreography.

 

“That’s so not fair!” Renjun whined again, but didn’t take his eyes off of the way Donghyuck’s hips moved to the beat until Donghyuck had stopped dancing.

 

“Who said there were rules?” Donghyuck scooped up the broom and went back to sweeping like absolutely nothing had happened.

 

“Just,” Renjun drew in a shaky breath. “Pick something else. I’m almost done.”  


Both TWICE’s What Is Love and SEVENTEEN’s BOOMBOOM ended up being played before Donghyuck finally finished sweeping and Renjun drained the water from the sink, drying his hands as he turned back to the other boy. He was clearly a little tense from the little challenge, but he was smiling, so Donghyuck counted it as a win.

 

“Do you see any other brushes?” Renjun glanced around the room. “I think I got all of them.” Donghyuck took a quick look around the room before his eyes landed back on Renjun, spotting the paintbrush still tucked behind his ear from when Donghyuck had put it there earlier.

 

“I see one more, hold up.” He slowly advanced on Renjun. Donghyuck didn’t stop until they were standing nearly chest-to-chest and placed a finger under Renjun’s chin to tilt it up. Donghyuck leaned down so their noses were almost touching, before pinching the handle of the brush with two fingers, leaning back with a devilish smile on his face, brandishing the object.

 

Renjun looked between Donghyuck and the brush, glaring at him, but the blush on Renjun’s face said it all. Before Donghyuck could tease Renjun, however, the older knocked the brush out of Donghyuck’s hands and grabbed his collar to pull him back down so their lips could meet.

 

Donghyuck didn’t hesitate to wrap his hands around Renjun’s waist, hoisting the smaller boy up until he was perched on the edge of the countertop, taking care to make sure their lips never parted. He maneuvered himself so he was standing between Renjun’s legs with one hand on the small of his band and the other tugging at the hair on the nape of Renjun’s neck until he gasped, letting Donghyuck dive into his mouth.

 

The kiss was surprisingly messy for it being with Renjun, but it was like Donghyuck was complaining. Renjun’s hands were everywhere: Donghyuck’s hair, shoulders, arms, cheeks, hips, chest, like he was trying to map out his entire body with his delicate fingers.

 

Donghyuck felt himself floating even though the majority of Renjun’s weight was braced on him. Renjun’s lips were so soft and inviting, and the way they parted to let Donghyuck lick around his mouth after Donghyuck had squeezed gently on the older’s hips, first eliciting a small squeak, then a small moan from the back of his throat.

 

Donghyuck felt his lips curl up into a small smile as he swallowed the small noises Renjun was making and felt the hands in his hair tighten. They were both running out of air, so they were forced to part for a moment, and Donghyuck took full advantage of that time to admire his handiwork.

 

Even though Donghyuck couldn’t paint a canvas, he could color Renjun so beautifully it almost made up for it. Renjun himself _was_ Donghyuck’s canvas: lips bitten plum purple and glistening with spit while swatches of baby pink dusted his cheeks and the tips of his ears melted into a bright rose red.

 

Donghyuck leaned back in, but Renjun pushed a hand against his chest to stop him. He looked down to see Renjun’s fingers clenching and unclenching the fabric of his t-shirt that was rising and falling in time with his heavy breaths. “Wait,” was the only word that Renjun huffed out, pouting as he let Donghyuck massage his thighs.

 

Renjun leaned forward to cup Donghyuck’s cheeks, running his thumbs gingerly over the soft skin before speaking again. “Hyuck, I can’t do this.”

 

Donghyuck smiled quickly to cover up the fact that he was hurt, but unsurprised. “Of course you can’t.” He averted his eyes, but Renjun reached forward to grab his cheeks again to keep him from moving any further away.

 

“Donghyuck, look at me.” The words themselves that spilled from Renjun’s spit-slicked lips were as cold as stone, but the warmth of the tone is what made Donghyuck look back up into his eyes, surprised to find them filled with regret. “I want to make this work with you so badly, you have no idea, but I just _can’t_.”

 

“Why not, Injunnie?” Donghyuck cupped Renjun’s face, letting the older lean into his touch. “Tell me _why_.”

 

A deep sigh was drawn from Renjun’s chest before he replied. “I’m moving back to China. Tomorrow.” Renjun placed a finger over Donghyuck’s lips before he could make any sort of protest. “I didn’t even know about it until just before I came to class today. I don’t know if or when I’ll be coming back, and I can’t put you in a situation like that. It’s not fair to you and it’s not fair to me.”

 

Donghyuck rocked back on his heels, letting out the breath he didn’t even know he was been holding. “Okay, that makes sense.”

 

“I’m sorry, Donghyuck.” Renjun seemed about as torn up about it as Donghyuck felt. “Maybe another time, another place.”

 

“But for now can I…?” Donghyuck brushed his thumb over Renjun’s lips, relishing in how the smaller shivered and blushed at his touch.

 

“Yeah,” Renjun leaned forward, whispering against Donghyuck’s lips. “Yeah you can.”

 

When Donghyuck stumbled back into the apartment two and a half hours after his class ended with swollen lips, ruddy cheeks, and messy hair, Jaemin sent him a wink over the top of his book from where he was reading on the couch.

 

“Got a date?” He asked.

 

“Didn’t work out.” Donghyuck admitted, shrugging.

 

Jaemin hummed, looking back at his book. “You’ve still got five days.”

 

Donghyuck bit back a snarky reply, instead opting for going straight to his room to rest. As he got ready for bed, he ran a finger over his still-tingling lips, wishing with everything inside of him that something would work out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's the end of renjun's story....  
> these two days were probably my favorite to write, actually, but my favorite story overall is still yet to come  
> who might be next on hyuck's love list??

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on my socials about anything <3
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/baridalive)   
>  [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/baridalive)   
>  [tumblr](https://baridalive.tumblr.com)


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